Alexander II. died April 21, 1073, and was buried in
the basilica of St. John in Lateran on the following day. The city,
usually so turbulent after the death of a pope, was tranquil.
Hildebrand ordered a three days’ fast with litanies and prayers
for the dead, after which the cardinals were to proceed to an election.
Before the funeral service was closed, the people shouted, "Hildebrand
shall be pope!" He attempted to ascend the pulpit and to quiet the
crowd, but Cardinal Hugo Candidus anticipated him, and declared:, "Men
and brethren, ye know how since the days of Leo IX. Hildebrand has
exalted the holy Roman Church, and defended the freedom of our city.
And as we cannot find for the papacy a better man, or even one that is
his equal, let us elect him, a clergyman of our Church, well known and
thoroughly approved amongst us." The cardinals and clergy exclaimed in
the usual formula, "St. Peter elects Gregory (Hildebrand) pope."2222 The earliest account is given by Gregory himself in two
letters written April 24, 1073, and a third written April 26 to Wibert
of Ravenna (Reg., I. 1-3). It is confirmed by Bonizo. Gregory
frequently referred to his election as having been against his will.
(See Mirbt, Wahl, etc., pp. 2, 42.) The anti-Gregorian party
made the slanderous accusation that he secured his office by force and
bribery, but not till the struggle between him and Henry IV. had begun.
The subject is thoroughly discussed by Mirbt in his Wahl Gregors
VII. p. 56. In his later work, Die Publizistik, p. 582, he
again pronounces Gregory’s own account as "the most
credible."

This tumultuary election was at once legalized by
the cardinals. He was carried by the people as in triumph to the church
of S. Petrus ad Vincula, clothed with the purple robe and tiara, and
declared elected, as "a man eminent in piety and learning, a lover of
equity and justice, firm in adversity, temperate in prosperity,
according to the apostolic precept (1 Tim. 3:2), ’without
reproach ... temperate, soberminded, chaste, given to hospitality,
ruling his house well’ ... already well brought up and educated
in the bosom of this mother Church, for his merits advanced to the
office of archdeacon, whom now and henceforth we will to be called
Gregory, Pope, and Apostolic Primate."2323 The clauses, "the husband of one wife," as well as "having
his children in subjection," are omitted in the quotation from
Paul’s letter to Timothy. They would be fatal to the papal theory
of clerical celibacy. See the Latin text in the Acta Sanctorum
for May 25, Tom. VI. 117, from the "Acta Romae 10 Kalend. Maji." The
cardinals concluded the declaration with the questions: "Placet
vobis? Placet. Vultis eum? Volumus. Laudatis eum?
Laudamus."

It was eminently proper that the man who for
nearly a quarter of a century had been the power behind the throne,
should at last be pope in name as well as in fact. He might have
attained the dignity long before, if he had desired it. He was then
about sixty years old, when busy men begin to long for rest. He chose
the name Gregory in memory of his departed friend whom he had
accompanied as chaplain into exile, and as a protest against the
interference of the empire in the affairs of the Church.2424 From Bonizo’s account it would seem that the
cardinals gave him that name; but they probably ascertained his wishes
beforehand, or anticipated them. Wattenbach (p. 130) regards the
assumption of the name Gregory as an open insult to the empire and the
Synod of Sutri, where Henry III. had deposed three popes, including
Gregory VI.s election, and delayed
his consecration long enough to receive the consent of Henry IV., who
in the meantime had become emperor. This was the last case of an
imperial confirmation of a papal election.2525 This is Mirbt’s view. The anti-Gregorian writers,
reflecting the policy of Henry IV., insisted that Gregory had not
received the royal assent. The imperial theory was laid down at Brixen,
1080, that any one assuming to be pope without such assent, was an
apostate, si quis sine assensu romani principis papari praesumeret,
non papa sed apostata ab omnibus haberetur. See Mirbt, Die
Wahl, etc., pp. 29-38.

Hildebrand was ordained priest, May 22, and
consecrated pope, June 29, without any opposition. Bishop Gregory of
Vercelli, the German chancellor of Italy, attended the consecration.
The pope informed his friends, distinguished abbots, bishops, and
princes of his election; gave expression to his feelings and views on
his responsible position, and begged for their sympathy and prayers.2626 Jaffé, Mon. Greg. (1885), pp. 9
sqq.

He was overwhelmed, as he wrote to Duke Godfrey of
Lorraine (May 6, 1073), by the prospect of the task before him; he
would rather have died than live in the midst of such perils; nothing
but trust in God and the prayers of good men could save him from
despair; for the whole world was lying in wickedness; even the high
officers of the Church, in their thirst for gain and glory, were the
enemies rather than the friends of religion and justice. In the second
year of his pontificate, he assured his friend Hugo of Cluny (Jan. 22,
1075) that he often prayed God either to release him from the present
life, or to use him for the good of mother Church, and thus describes
the lamentable condition of the times: —

"The Eastern Church fallen from the faith, and
attacked by the infidels from without. In the West, South, or North,
scarcely any bishops who have obtained their office regularly, or whose
life and conduct correspond to their calling, and who are actuated by
the love of Christ instead of worldly ambition. Nowhere princes who
prefer God’s honor to their own, and justice to gain. The Romans,
Longobards, and Normans among whom I live, as I often told them, are
worse than Jews and heathens. And when I look to myself, I feel
oppressed by such a burden of sin that no other hope of salvation is
left me but in the mercy of Christ alone."2727 Abridged from Ep., II. 49; Jaffé, p. 163;
Migne, 148, 400

This picture is true, and we need not wonder that
he often longed to retire to the quiet retreat of a convent. He adds in
the same letter that, if it were not for his desire to serve the holy
Church, he would not remain in Rome, where he had spent twenty years
against his wish. He was thus suspended between sorrow and hope, seized
by a thousand storms, living as a dying man. He compared himself to a
sailor on the high seas surrounded by darkness. And he wrote to William
the Conqueror, that unwillingly he had ascended into the ship which was
tossed on a billowy sea, with the violence of the winds and the fury of
storms with hidden rocks beneath and other dangers rising high in air
in the distance.2828Reg.,
I. 70.

The two features which distinguished
Gregory’s administration were the advocacy of papal absolutism
and the promotion of moral reforms. In both these respects Gregory left
an abiding impression upon the thought and practice of Latin
Christendom. Even where we do not share his views we cannot help but
admire his moral force and invincible courage.

22 The earliest account is given by Gregory himself in two
letters written April 24, 1073, and a third written April 26 to Wibert
of Ravenna (Reg., I. 1-3). It is confirmed by Bonizo. Gregory
frequently referred to his election as having been against his will.
(See Mirbt, Wahl, etc., pp. 2, 42.) The anti-Gregorian party
made the slanderous accusation that he secured his office by force and
bribery, but not till the struggle between him and Henry IV. had begun.
The subject is thoroughly discussed by Mirbt in his Wahl Gregors
VII. p. 56. In his later work, Die Publizistik, p. 582, he
again pronounces Gregory’s own account as "the most
credible."

23 The clauses, "the husband of one wife," as well as "having
his children in subjection," are omitted in the quotation from
Paul’s letter to Timothy. They would be fatal to the papal theory
of clerical celibacy. See the Latin text in the Acta Sanctorum
for May 25, Tom. VI. 117, from the "Acta Romae 10 Kalend. Maji." The
cardinals concluded the declaration with the questions: "Placet
vobis? Placet. Vultis eum? Volumus. Laudatis eum?
Laudamus."

24 From Bonizo’s account it would seem that the
cardinals gave him that name; but they probably ascertained his wishes
beforehand, or anticipated them. Wattenbach (p. 130) regards the
assumption of the name Gregory as an open insult to the empire and the
Synod of Sutri, where Henry III. had deposed three popes, including
Gregory VI.

25 This is Mirbt’s view. The anti-Gregorian writers,
reflecting the policy of Henry IV., insisted that Gregory had not
received the royal assent. The imperial theory was laid down at Brixen,
1080, that any one assuming to be pope without such assent, was an
apostate, si quis sine assensu romani principis papari praesumeret,
non papa sed apostata ab omnibus haberetur. See Mirbt, Die
Wahl, etc., pp. 29-38.